Revolution’s Children – We Chat With 17 Year Old Australian Artist Rochi Strum

Revolution’s Children is an interview series with creative young people from all over the globe.

We publish the series because young people are and will always be the future. They are the children of revolutions past, and the agents of revolutions to come. They will shape the future and as such should be treasured, respected and importantly – engaged with.

After interviewing American artist Ricardo ‘Ricky’ Hernandez last year for the debut Revolution’s Children interview, we turn to the Land Down Under aka Australia to interview 17 year old artist Rochi Strum.

A recent photo of Rochi.

Hailing from the beach side suburb of Nth Bondi, in the city of Sydney, Rochi creates surreal pop-art and also works in the mediums of sculpture and fashion.

You can read our interview with Rochi, below…

Art Questions

When and why did you first start to make art?… and any pivotal artistic moment(s) / influence(s)?

I have been making art my entire life just as I sleep and eat, I really have to be doodling constantly, my dad – Michael Strum – is an artist and he is my main inspiration.He has taught me everything I know and has made art a big part of my life for as long as I can remember as he is creating full time.

My brain really just vomits all my art out
so I think just my existence inspires me, I can’t really think while drawing or
its not Rochi its forced.

My dad’s art 200% subconsciously inspires
me tho and you can see many similarities in our art style.

A recent digital work by Rochi.

Any projects you want to hype?

I want to hype my digital work as I only
recently got an iPad to draw on and I’m loving using it and loving what I’m
able to create with it.

If people wanted to work with you, have a chat or buy something – how should they get in touch?

If anyone wants to get in contact with me, I’m very happy 2 chat, my email is rochistrum@gmail.com and I have an Instagram account – @goosecandle22 – where I post all my little doodles and recently the digital stuff as well!

If there is anything you see and like and
want a print or a sticker or bag or shirt made please get in contact because I
would absolutely love to start to sell some of my work ! ! :]

I don’t really know
anything about XXX to be honest all I know is that there are a bunch of lame
boys with rip jah in their bios and controversy surrounding that as I think he
was an abuser or rapist or something like that I’m not really sure I was never
a fan.

Does the forever nature of the internet influence how you, your friends and other people your age portray yourself online and live your lives?…and if so, in what ways?

Personally I don’t
think when presenting ourselves on the internet we think about how forever it
is at all, we focus on creating a little universe based around ourselves and
telling a story and sharing our lives with our friends.

I think we create
pages that show our vibe so we can connect with others with similar vibes and
build friendships! I have an entire friendship group whom I met through Instagram
as we share similar aesthetics and music taste and from that we linked and I
now have some lifelong friendships!!!

A recent painting by Rochi.

Please define what ‘cancel culture’ means to you and your thoughts about it.

Cancel culture entails
when someone does something that someone else doesn’t like so person number 2
goes ahead and publicly shames them on their social media pages therefore
encouraging their peers to also shame them and stop being their pal.

I DESPISE CANCEL
CULTURE, I think it’s disgusting and I know way too many people who cancel
culture fiends and cancel anyone and everyone.
The sad thing is people really do get cancelled and lose all their friends when
sometimes what they are being cancelled over is not even the “truth”.

I strongly believe if
someone has upset you or done something you don’t approve of or think is right
you give them a text or ring and talk to them about it not post about it,
cancel culture is immature and stupid.

Who are some of the biggest celebrities in your world? – not necessarily celebrities you like and admire, but celebrities you, your friends and other people your age discuss.… and what is it about those celebrities that makes them such a topic of conversation?

Right now celebrities that have just gotten big and are everywhere on social media are up and coming tik tok stars aka pretty american girls who dance haha, like Charlie Damelio and Addison Rae.

What and who are some of the biggest influences in your life?

Celebrities I personally follow are Princess Nokia and Jameela Jamil, they are both strong, feminist, incredible woman who show love to themselves and teach girls everywhere that they are perfect the way they are which is a nice contrast to how the media treats women. They love to oppose beauty standards for women and call out awful brands and companies that do the opposite and its awesome.

A page from Rochi’s sketchbook.

How would you explain the concept of personal privacy?… and what aspects of your life do you choose to keep private?

I’m stuck on the
question about personal privacy so I guess that says a lot; because although I
definitely believe that I keep alot of my life private I do have a Finsta which
is my private Instagram account where only my close friends follow and we kind
of use it like a photo diary for our friends to interact with, I share a lot of
my life on that to my close pals.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

In ten years to the day I will be 27, honestly, I have not the slightest clue what I’ll be doing but I feel like I will either be in Melbourne, Nimbin or Israel.

Whichever of those three places I’ll be happy with, hopefully I will have a cute house/flat living with people I love.

I see myself being a
landscape designer but still making art in all my free time, I also see myself
have two cats, one hairless and one with hair.

In your opinion, how has growing up surrounded by the internet and smart phones affected your generation?

For the first decade of my life I lived in Nimbin which is a little country town and I really wasn’t exposed to much technology at all which I’m thankful for, I’m glad in my very first years I was immersed in nature not the internet but now that I do have multiple personal devices and am very engaged on the online world I don’t think its negative at all.

I don’t really know
how it’s affected our generation but from what I have observed it’s made us
more accepting as we are exposed to so many different types of ways to be a
human. It has made us express ourselves and really find our true identities as
eg. even if there is not a single person in your town who is also a non-binary
identifying person that is obsessed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Led Zeppelin
within minutes you could find many people alike on the internet and within
finding your people you are immediately validated and accepted.

A page from Rochi’s sketchbook.

COVID 19
Questions

Covid is impacting us all, bringing with it fear, sickness, financial stress and showing both the best and worst aspects of humanity… Please share how Covid is affecting the various aspects of your life, namely: – Your art practice?

Covid – 19 is
affecting my art practice in the best way possible, I am able to draw all day
because I simply have the time, comfort and can.

It’s really the
rainbow in this awful storm for me.

– Personal relationships?

I still feel very
connected to all my friends due to the internet but I do miss just being in
their company and straight vibing.

I am getting closer to
my family that I live with for sure but also the family I don’t live with I am
in way more contact with too.

I think in wack times like
these we bound together and become more compassionate and closer.

A recent sketch by Rochi.

– Mental health?

I have never been this
anxious in my entire life. It is affecting my mental health in a very negative
way because the impending doom floats in my mind quite constantly.

But I think I’m
handling it well and have many positive coping mechanisms such as yoga, going
for walks, facetiming my friends and drawing!

And what lasting affects do you think Covid 19 will have on humanity in the short, medium and long terms?

I really believe that
as a whole humanity will have a consciousness shift in the direction of being
way more thankful for what we have, greater compassion and much more seeing the
world as a single unit.

On a lighter note, what is your lockdown outfit of choice?[Please include a photo or drawing of it!]

Rochi pictured on the balcony of her apartment in her go-to isolation outfit. Which includes a skirt hand made by Rochi, using some of her old socks.

Odds and Ends

If you could live in any place, during any historical era – where and when would that be? …and why would you choose that time and place?

I would choose to be born in 2022 not only
because 22 is my absolute favourite number but so I can skip the corona virus
tbh.

What role did toys play in your childhood(s)?

I love toys, I have no clue what role they
played in the childhood.

I have a couple of toys I still have from
my very early childhood and I treasure them, I think they hold memories and
meaning.

I still buy plush toys because I find them
aesthetically pleasing and have them to make my bed cute and also very comfy!!
I have a life size pink panther doll which is cute and comfy as hell.

A recent digital work by Rochi.

What are the top 3 items you own?

I could not choose the
top three items I own. I own so many objects. I love objects so much.

Pre-corona I loved
finding wack objects at vinnies and markets, my room is filled to the brim.

In a battle between classic cartoon superstars Bart Simpson Vs. Betty Boop – who would win in a fight and why?

Betty Boop because I love Betty Boop, I
grew up on her black n white cartoons and I just love her and the shows entire
everything and also because Bart is annoying.

Please describe your last dream in detail…

I only remember bits
and pieces of my dream last night but it heavily included me doing the everyday
things I used to do that I miss like catching public transport with my pals and
going to school, but of course as dreams don’t make sense my school was overflowing
with an assortment of really pretty bigger than usual snails and I don’t
remember why but it was my job to count them.

Of everything you have done so far what would you most like to be remembered for and why?

I don’t really know but I hope it would be
for my drawings as I don’t really do much else.

I would also hope to just be remembered as a lovely person who cared about lots of people and had many beautiful friends.